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Sword of Kaldra Discussion

2 weeks ago

Thanks again Despair. I took your suggestions of adding more ramp and swapped out Tenza, Godo's Maul for Mana Crypt since it is useless without Aurelia, the Warleader out. I also dropped Sword of Kaldra for Mana Vault since the exile clause is useless unless against recursion, where I would rather run Rest in Peace and the +5/+5 isn't worth 8 mana. I also dropped Cathars' Crusade for Solemn Simulacrum since it just isn't going to provide enough value at 5 mana compared to ramp and card draw. In light of making it more competitive through "ramp" I also swapped out Hammer of Nazahn for Sigarda's Aid since they both let me auto equip something and Sigarda's Aid is 3 mana cheaper and let's me cast my equipment at the end step before my turn, giving a sort of pseudo-ramp and I figured 3 mana less and the flash clause was better than +2/+0 and indestructible.

2 weeks ago

Couple recommendations based on the updated list. At the macro level I think you need to get a bit more ramp going in the deck, looks like you only have 3 pieces and sword of the animist. To accommodate these changes I would take out Tenza, Godo's Maul, and Sword of Kaldra these just don't get me excited to get out of bed in the morning. Mind's Eye has generally been too slow for all the metas that I have played in, so keep an eye on how it plays. Thran Dynamo is amazing, Worn Powerstone, Solemn Simulacrum, Gilded Lotus are solid, but even just Thought Vessel and Fellwar Stone are reasonable if you are on a budget, its up to you. But I think more acceleration equals more success.

2 months ago

Full disclosure, I don't have a Vorosh deck, but I've been theory crafting and looking into it. Hakim is one of my main decks. Please factor this accordingly.

In the case of Vorosh, I think people underestimate that color combination substantially. It has access to cards like Vanishing or Diplomatic Immunity allowing it to dodge and preserve counters, as well as counterspells and tutors. Black and blue have a ton of ways to make creatures unblockable, as well as ways to deal with threats. I would by no means call a Vorosh deck fast. But with ramp and a good set of answers I wouldn't call it tier 5 either. After it lands an attack once, it can drop any player within 2 turns via unblockable commander. And again, it's color combo lends itself well to biding its time and riding out threats. Not to mention a late Beacon of Tomorrows or Time Stretch is a guaranteed kill if cast at the right time.

Hakim is definitely one I personally use so pls no bully. But the ability to recur enchantments without having to expose yourself by attacking means you can make a resilient one man control platform. All the pieces it needs to come online and become a threat are recurrable. Enchants due to his ability, and equipment due to being able to be fetched from the graveyard by blue. Charisma, Psionic Gift, Neko-Te, Vanishing, Grafted Exoskeleton, Pemmin's Aura, Quietus Spike, Drake Umbra and other totems, Freed from the Real, Eldrazi Conscription, Illusionist's Bracers, Hermetic Study, Diplomatic Immunity, Sword of Kaldra, Corrupted Conscience, Blight Sickle, Sigil of Sleep, Oracle's Insight. The overlapping cards fulfilling the same role combined with the fact you can comfortably dump to graveyard(by overdrawing or other effects) means you can quickly dig for what you need. It's somewhat mana greedy but once it spools up its very hard to deal with. You've gotta get past counterspells, phasing out to dodge, recurring umbras, and hexproof. Usually multiple of those are online by like turn 7 or 8. And once it is online you can start trading mana 1 for 1 to get devastating effects. 1 blue mana can get you: destroy or exile target creature, put a poison counter on target player, "permanently" tap target creature, gain control of target creature, half target player's life, draw a card, etc. And if bumped up with helm of the gods or enchant stacking buffs all of this can be done while going full aggro on someone to proc annihilator or punch their face for damage. Finally, he can use recurring mass sacrifice effects to wear down enemies. Smokestack presents a somewhat mana inefficient option lategame to limit enemy's board state. For example, if you have a pemmin's aura, psionic gift, Diplomatic immunity combo online, you can run a smokestack at 3 charges indefinitely. Sacrifice the 3 Enchants during your upkeep, then pay 6 blue to rebuild them leaving the rest open for counterspells. Enemies are losing 3 permanents a turn while you keep enough mana open to counterspell or ping as needed. If brought online lategame after a board wipe your enemies will be completely unable to rebuild while you can continue building up your combo pieces.

In the case of both of these decks, they lend themselves to a decently strong voltron option. But they also both have access to some of the best ways to keep a creature alive through board wipes and preserve their bonuses they've been accruing.

With Vorosh, in theory a bit of biding your time combined with an Unblockable enchant(of which blue has tons) can build up to a time walk effect wherein you kill a player before they can even react. With Hakim, he turns into a controltron that is highly resistant to most answers against voltron decks, while also being able to rebuild extremely fast unless someone can punch through those multiple lines of defense AND wipe the graveyard out quickly.

Keep in mind, I HAVE NOT USED VOROSH, but I do play decks that operate in a similar manner. In theory Vorosh has a great deal of potential as a lategame sweeper with low time to kill aided by time walk effects.

I DO HAVE A HAKIM DECK AND AM THEREFORE BIASED. But hakim is(after some costly spool up) an absurdly efficient controltron commander. He can singlehandedly kill multiple players in a single turn via poison counters and Illusionist's bracers. Or permanently detain an entire board. And the fact all of these are instant speed means he can save his effects til end of turn on his enemy's turn leaving mana open to counterspell threats he can't deal with.

4 months ago

Here's some ideas.

Replace the Butcher's Cleaver or Slayer's Plate with a Loxodon Warhammer. Same Cost, same equip, same damage bonus, but not having a restriction on the creature type and the additional trample are pretty nice.I've always felt that Bonds of Faith is better in a 60 card deck than Commander. Too many threats and it suffers from the same problems that all Auras have.The Citadel Siege feels out of place. I get the point of the two +1/+1 counters each combat, but if the board is empty, it becomes useless.

4 months ago

LVL_666 Hey man, I recently made an awesome discovery that you need to include. Get yourself a Sword of Kaldra and slap it on Zacama. It basically creates a Path to Exile on a stick without the free mana for opponents. Every time Zacama does his 3 damage ability, it will Exile the targeted creature. Very good against indestructible creatures!

I think some of my suggestions for adding may already be in there but that just tells you they are doubly worth it :P There may be better options then some of what I listed so you might want to take a look here too:

5 months ago

manticoreknight Thanks for the comment! Gisela is already in the deck. thought about HH but didn't like him here, distracts from the main gameplan. Mind's Eye is good I'll consider it. Thanks again! Don't forget to upvote if you like the deck!

ogarith I am definitely still thinking about it. I don't have many targets but the repeated value is so tempting... thanks again! Please upvote!

Been thinking about cutting Young Pyromancer and Monastery Mentor... I've already cut Blaze Commando so they seem next in line. I like them because, while they don't advance my specific gameplan, they still synergize with it and give me a ton of value. If I cut just one which would you cut?

Thalia's Lancers gets Neheb, the Eternal. I keep them because I feel Neheb is that important to the deck. And they can grab a finisher like Gisela or if Neheb is unavailible and I'm starving for draws Azor's GatewayFlip. Might be cut after I get to playtest the deck but it'll stay for now.

I like Puresteel Paladin but not sure how heavy into equipment synergy I can go. Already finding room for Basilisk Collar, hope it works great. I want to avoid infect so no Grafted Exoskeleton. Sword of Kaldra seems to expensive and distracts from the theme. Darksteel Plate is already in the deck. Eight-and-a-Half-Tails was considered early on but is only good with painter's servant out and nixes the lifegain I get from my own creatures. Indestructible over protection. Sunbond was cut the other day. I really like it but had to make room. Might find it's way back in.

Isochron Scepter like I said above I'm low on targets and it seems hard to set up. Especially if i draw it late game. Tempting though.

All the damage doublers are good but require me to have both the damage spell and the doubling spell in hand, and the mana to cast both. From my experience with Neheb and Brion Stoutarm I'm not a fan personally.

I'm glad you took the time and got a thorough understanding of the deck. Really appreciate it. Thanks again! Would love an upvote too!

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